“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow,” wrote Leo Tolstoy. If we could use light, particularly artificial light, even more intelligently, what would we see? Certainly, an eco-friendlier world. 

This is the starting point for electronic design company Kerr, which has teamed up with Esco Inewa to develop a smart, public street lighting system. Based at NOI, the two companies have designed and developed a camera that can be mounted on streetlights to recognise vehicles and pedestrians, while also assessing weather conditions. By measuring and integrating this data, the smart lighting system tells the streetlight when and how brightly to illuminate the road. “We’re able to make savings of up to 60%,” says Andrea Stona, Kerr’s managing director. “This means we can reduce energy consumption and equivalent CO₂ emissions,” confirms Francesco Righi, managing director of Inewa. 

The project was supported by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano’s Research and Innovation Law (14/2006), and by our Tech Transfer Green team, who assisted the entrepreneurs throughout the process. “We instantly recognised the system’s huge potential in terms of business and technological development as well as its environmental impact. For this reason, we took action to support them, helping them secure provincial funding and providing NOI space for testing,” explains Stefano Dal Savio, Head of Tech Transfer Green at NOI Techpark. The project is now about to enter its second phase, which will be even more challenging. The goal is to industrialise and mass-produce the technology to make it even more efficient, widespread and intelligent. 

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